New York Bourbon

Got a little distillery that's eager to put out New York's first bourbon since Prohibition. Anybody have any idea of any distilleries making bourbon in New York pre or post Prohibition? Or maybe some ideas of how to search out any info beyond a basic Google search?

Pretty exciting little project to be working with.

Mark Twain was right, "There ain't no such thing as too much good whisky."

Got a little distillery that's eager to put out New York's first bourbon since Prohibition. Anybody have any idea of any distilleries making bourbon in New York pre or post Prohibition? Or maybe some ideas of how to search out any info beyond a basic Google search?

Pretty exciting little project to be working with.

I would be very surprised if there was ever a New York distillery that made bourbon. Rye whiskey, yes, but not bourbon. Before Prohibition, rye was more popular than bourbon, especially in the East, and that is what the Eastern distillers made. After Prohibition, few if any New York distilleries came back, at least not as whiskey producers.

I'm not positive, but I believe the original (that is, original American) Smirnoff distillery was in New York. It was a distillery that had been converted to produce grain neutral spirits (GNS) during the war and rather than converting back into a whiskey producer, it (and others) wanted to see if they could create a market for GNS, hence the big push for vodka in the post-war era, which began in and was most successful in New York. A lot of gin was produced in NY using the same reasoning.

New York also had warmly embraced Scotch and Cognac during Prohibition. Irish, for obvious reasons, was also big. That, and the fact that New York was always more of a cocktail town than a straight spirits town, all would have mitigated against anyone in New York (city or state) actually making straight bourbon.

So, maybe the opportunity is a little different, to be the first New York distillery to make bourbon ever.

There is on the market in New York a brand of bourbon called Old Williamsburg (I think is the name). Lenell's carries this brand so she is aware of it. It is distributed by a company in Minnesota (I think the same people that put out that Phillips Union whiskey some time back). The labelling refers to some kind of heritage in Brooklyn. This may be all-marketing relating or possibly not, but I mention it because this is a bourbon meant clearly to appeal to a home-town market. It comes in two proofs and is not expensive.

I still fantasize about a bourbon distilled and aged in Alaska. I wonder how a species like that would turn out?

I would think it would not be cut with much water. Sounds like a great idea....but, would not one where you are located be about the same as Alaska climatically speaking? Dude, you could start one right there.....Swedish Bourbon! I bet it would be an instant sensation in Europe.

"All I can say is that I have taken more out of alcohol than it has taken out of me".....Winston Churchill